Eossos

Chapter one

I walked home from school as usual, and when I came home dad was gone and mom was passed out on the couch, also as usual. I sighed and walked to my room and started up my Siren game console. The only escape from my living hell. I put on the headset and was taken away to the world of Essos.

Essos. The world ruled by assassins and thieves, yet somehow it's better than the real world. The real world, where you have no friends, no family, nothing. And Essos where you also have no friends or family and kill people for a living! So much better...

I had logged out in the inn above the pub. I decided to head downstairs where most of the other assassins who had just logged on were going. The pub was where everyone went, to get missions, information, and drinks.

I went over to where most of the other assassins were sitting waiting for missions. Finally, the barmaid came over and gave me a new mission.
Objective: Kill Vincent Bronze
Reward: 1500 coin 3000 XP
"Wow! 3000 XP!?" One of the other assassins named Sonja said in shock.

"Yeah, the higher your level the more XP you get for missions."

"What level are you?"

"100," I said shyly.

"How?! I'm only level 70!"

"I play a lot, and grind."

Suddenly I felt something and my motion sensor went off, I was moving in the real world. My dad was probably home, which meant I was in big trouble. The alarm went off again and warned me I was about to be logged off.

"I've got to go," I said quickly as it automatically logged me off.

And sure enough, my dad was home, completely drunk and high as usual. The first, and last thing I remember after being logged off was his fist coming down on my face and darkness. I regained consciousness several hours later around 3 am. I was sore and covered in bruises, I quickly went to the bathroom to see how much makeup I had to wear tomorrow. The answer looked pretty bad, my face was purple and caked with blood. I could wash off the blood but the bruises I had to cover.

The next morning I could barely move, my dad had been more brutal than usual. But I had to go to school, while it might not be much better than home it wasn't much worse. So, as quickly as I could I got dressed and ready for school. Today was going to be a long day...

Thanks so much to ThinkingWayTooMuch for making the awesome cover!